Broadcast News Writing Stylebook

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The first and most widely used handbook in broadcast news, this book clearly and concisely outlines the rules of broadcast news writing, grammar, style, and usage. Similar in format to the AP Stylebook, the Broadcast News Writing Stylebook is a useful resource for both beginning and advanced writers of broadcast news. With chapter-by-chapter coverage of story types, from business stories to crime and legal reporting, government, health, the environment, weather, and sports, the Broadcast News Writing Stylebook lays out the particular demands of composition, form, style, and usage in all the diverse areas of broadcast news. Completely updated, with expanded explanations of the writing process, more examples of both problems and solutions, and greatly expanded discussion and explanation of putting together stories and the use of bites and sounds, the book is a complete reference text for both aspiring and experienced journalists.

Acknowledgments

ix

Introduction

1

(2)

Readability

3

(10)

The Computerized Newsroom

3

(3)

Working with the Wire

4

(1)

Assigning Stories

4

(1)

Producing Newscasts

5

(1)

Archiving Information

5

(1)

Limitations

5

(1)

Rules of Readability

6

(7)

The Printed Word

6

(1)

The Slug

6

(1)

Hyphenation

7

(1)

Abbreviation

7

(1)

Symbols

7

(1)

Initials and Acronyms

8

(1)

Names

8

(1)

Numbers

9

(1)

Ages

10

(1)

Emphasis

11

(1)

Pronouncers

11

(1)

Spelling

12

(1)

Words

13

(18)

Keep it Simple

14

(1)

Keep it Conversational

14

(1)

Informal Words

14

(1)

Contractions

14

(1)

Formal Terminology

15

(1)

People...Not Persons

15

(1)

Keep it Clear

15

(3)

Common Usage

15

(2)

Technical Terms

17

(1)

Definite and Indefinite Articles

18

(1)

Keep it Tight

18

(1)

Make it Powerful

19

(1)

Use Strong Nouns and Verbs

19

(1)

Avoid Weak Qualifiers

19

(1)

Get it Right

20

(1)

Says

20

(1)

Saying Too Much

21

(1)

Think

21

(1)

Common Problems

21

(10)

Phrases and Phrasing

31

(18)

How to Say it

31

(8)

Voice

31

(1)

Tense

32

(1)

Clarity

33

(1)

Conciseness

34

(1)

Clauses and Phrases

35

(1)

Positive Phrasing

35

(1)

Pronouns

36

(1)

That

37

(1)

Time and Space problems

38

(1)

What to Say

39

(5)

Title and Identifiers

39

(1)

Attribution

39

(3)

Quotations

42

(1)

Numbers

43

(1)

Race

43

(1)

What You Didn't Mean to Say

44

(4)

Dates

44

(1)

Unintended Meanings

44

(1)

Editorials

45

(1)

Cliches

46

(1)

Sexism

46

(1)

Personalization

47

(1)

Last Note

48

(1)

Sentences

49

(8)

Keep it Short

49

(4)

One Important Idea

50

(1)

Put People First

50

(1)

Keep it Simple: Subject-Verb-Object

51

(1)

Use Some Variety for Interest

52

(1)

Split Up Complex Sentences

52

(1)

Make it Clean, Clear and Concise

53

(3)

Make Every Sentence Count

54

(1)

Avoid Repetition

54

(1)

Stay Positive

55

(1)

Make Sense

55

(1)

End Strong

56

(1)

Last Note

56

(1)

Leads and Endings

57

(17)

Types of Leads

58

(4)

Main Point Leads

58

(3)

Other Leads

61

(1)

Figuring out the Lead

62

(9)

What's the Story About?

62

(1)

Say Something Meaningful

63

(1)

Keep it Simple

63

(1)

Start with New News

64

(1)

Focus on People

65

(1)

Focus on Local

66

(2)

Be Direct and to the Point

68

(1)

Save the Name for Later

69

(1)

Save the Day and Date for Later

70

(1)

Update Leads

70

(1)

Responsibility

71

(1)

Types of Endings

71

(3)

Future Ramification Close

71

(1)

Summary Point Close

72

(1)

Information Close

72

(1)

Opposition Point of View Close

73

(1)

Punch Line

73

(1)

Stories

74

(19)

Plan Your Writing

74

(6)

Why Run the Story?

74

(1)

Do You Understand?

75

(2)

What's the Story About?

77

(1)

What's the Lead?

78

(1)

In What Order Do You Tell the Story?

78

(2)

Story Logic

80

(4)

Handling the Basics

80

(1)

Will it Stand on its Own?

81

(2)

Answer the Logical Questions

83

(1)

Story Structure

84

(1)

Make the Writing Structure Interesting

84

(1)

Transitions

85

(4)

Within Stories

85

(2)

Between Stories

87

(2)

Before You're Done

89

(4)

Does the Story Support the Lead?

89

(1)

Will the Audience Understand?

89

(2)

Use Humor Sparingly

91

(1)

Read the Story Aloud

91

(2)

Working with and Gathering Bites, Actualities and Natural Sound

93

(18)

Collecting Sound

94

(2)

Good Bites and Bad Bites: Technical

94

(1)

Good Bites and Bad Bites: Content

95

(1)

An Alternative to Traditional Bites

96

(1)

Working with Bites, Actualities and Natural Sound

96

(4)

Don't Stop the Story

96

(1)

Don't Repeat

97

(1)

Watch Out for Partial Lead-Ins

97

(1)

Making the Story Flow

98

(1)

Finding the Lead-In

98

(1)

Television Lead-Ins

99

(1)

Writing out of Bites

99

(1)

Packages

100

(3)

Writing into Packages

100

(1)

Introducing a Package That Starts with Bite

101

(1)

Understand Where the Story Begins

101

(1)

Package Tags

102

(1)

Interviewing

103

(6)

Plan

104

(1)

Listen

105

(1)

Technical Concerns

105

(1)

Make the Interviewee Comfortable

105

(1)

Ask Questions That Deliver What You After

106

(1)

Use Silence

107

(1)

Maintain Strong Eye Contact

107

(1)

Learn to Respond Inaudibly

108

(1)

Follow up and Clarify

108

(1)

Maintain Control

108

(1)

Ask for More...Twice

109

(1)

Make No Afterward

109

(1)

Beyond the Interview

109

(2)

Being Human

109

(1)

A Closing Thought

110

(1)

TV: Story Forms

111

(12)

Story Forms

111

(4)

Readers

112

(1)

Voiceovers

113

(1)

VO/SOT

113

(1)

Packages

114

(1)

Stand-Ups

114

(1)

Putting the Story Together

115

(1)

Pacing

115

(1)

Don't Outdate Packages

116

(1)

Live Reporting

116

(6)

Planning

121

(1)

Crosstalk

121

(1)

Golden Rules

122

(1)

TV: Working with Pictures

123

(10)

The Power of the Visual Image

123

(3)

Working with Strong Pictures

123

(1)

Working without Strong Pictures

124

(2)

The TV Balancing Act

126

(6)

Use Pictures and Words for What They Do Best

126

(2)

Use Natural Sound and SOT

128

(1)

Write TV Loosely

128

(1)

Coordinate Words and Pictures

129

(2)

Visualizing the Story

131

(1)

Picture Cautions

132

(1)

Use Meaningful Pictures

132

(1)

Today's Pictures

132

(1)

Watch Your Supers

132

(1)

Radio: Story Forms and Working with Sound

133

(6)

Radio Story Forms

133

(1)

Drawing Radio Pictures

134

(5)

The Words

134

(1)

Using Nat Sound

134

(1)

Listen to the Sound Quality

135

(1)

Putting it All Together

135

(4)

Caring and Connecting

139

(14)

Everyday Problems

139

(2)

Good Reporting Starts with Caring

141

(1)

Think Creatively

142

(1)

Plan and Focus

143

(2)

Strong Stories Have Central Characters and a Plot

145

(1)

Prove Your Story

146

(2)

The Element of Surprise

148

(1)

Connecting with Truths

149

(2)

Epilogue

151

(2)

Teases and Promos

153

(5)

Tease...Don't Tell

154

(1)

Make Them Care

155

(2)

Going Too Far

157

(1)

Business, Taxes and the Economy

158

(15)

Reporting on Money

158

(1)

Defining Terms

159

(14)

Calendar

173

(5)

Solar and Lunar

173

(1)

Calendar Holidays

173

(5)

Muslim Holidays

177

(1)

Crime and Legal

178

(11)

Attribution

179

(3)

When to Use Attribution

179

(1)

Alleged

179

(1)

Misplaced Attribution

180

(1)

Cautions

180

(1)

Get the Terms Right

181

(1)

Defining Terms

182

(7)

U.S. Geography

189

(4)

Where Are We?

189

(1)

Defining Terms

189

(4)

World Geography

193

(13)

Defining Terms

193

(4)

Pronunciation Guide and Locator

197

(9)

Government

206

(9)

How the System Works

206

(1)

Defining Terms

207

(8)

Health and Medicine

215

(8)

Reporting on Health and Medicine

215

(1)

Hospital Conditions

215

(1)

Defining Terms

216

(7)

Space and Aviation

223

(17)

Defining Terms

223

(17)

Sports

240

(11)

Reporting Sports

240

(2)

Reporting Scores

240

(1)

Common Mistakes

241

(1)

Sports and Teams

242

(9)

Auto Racing

242

(1)

Baseball-Major Leagues

242

(1)

Basketball-National Basketball Association

243

(1)

Basketball-Women's National Basketball Association

244

(1)

Boxing

244

(1)

Football-National Football League

244

(1)

Football-Canadian Football League

245

(1)

Golf

245

(1)

Hockey-National Hockey League

245

(1)

Soccer-Major League Soccer

246

(1)

College Sports-Football and Basketball

246

(5)

Weather and Natural Phenomena

251

(9)

Reporting Weather

251

(1)

Severe Weather

252

(1)

Defining Terms

252

(8)

TV Script Form and Supers

260

(12)

Abbreviations

260

(1)

Script Form

261

(3)

Standard Anchor Read

261

(1)

Standard 2-Shot

261

(1)

Standard Anchor Read with gfx

262

(1)

Anchor with Voiceover

262

(1)

Anchor with VO/SOT

262

(1)

Anchor VO/SOT with Package Intro

263

(1)

Supers

264

(8)

Names

264

(5)

Location, Date and Miscellaneous

269

(3)

Glossary of Broadcast Terms

272

(6)

The Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct